For A Time
by M.Koffe
Summary: Damian comes down with a horrible fever, and has a moment with Tim. Set pre- Reboot.


**First I want to apologize if there is any misspellings or bad grammer. Sometimes I look over those, and please work with me. :) **

**I'm also sorry if any of the characters are out of character. :) Please enjoy and dont forget to leave a review.**

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Patrol was cut short that night.

Dick should have seen it coming. He knew that, he should have done a better job reading Damian's body language. If Dick had not been there to catch him, the baby robin would have – no, he did not want to think about it. All that mattered, was that the young child was safe.

Damian grunted in his sleep from the touch of Dick's hand gently stroking his forehead. Even in his sleep, the little demon was aware of his surroundings. Dick had to be careful not to wake him, and he pulled his hand away once he was absolutely sure that Damian's fever had calmed down.

Carefully, Dick stood up off the bed and quietly made his way to the hall where Tim was standing.

Tim did not look happy. There was multiple cuts on his face, and lip was bleeding.

"Patrol not go to well?" Dick questioned, pretending not to notice the mess on his sibling's face.

"If Conner comes by tell him I'm not here." Tim half growled, but continued to speak in a more civilized tone. "So, you do know I have my own things to take care off – why the call? Why couldn't you and Damian patrol? Why did you need me to substitute for the night?"

Dick ignored Tim's snippy tone, he figured that he had gotten in some sort of altercation with Conner that did not end well and left the boy a tad emotional, "Damian's sick."

"Sick?" Tim repeated, in disbelief. "Damian doesn't get sick. He probably just wants attention."  
"Tim, you know how much he loves being out there on patrol." Dick justified. "If he wanted my attention he'd probably slaughter a few dozen people."

"True." sighed Tim. "So, what happened?"

"He was being kinda slow today, but I thought nothing of it." Dick explained, scratching the back of his neck. "Then while we were swinging he passed out, let go of his line and started falling." with the same hand he was using on the back of his neck, he ran through his hair. "I don't know if I can do this anymore," he admitted. "Damian could have died and it would have been my fault for not noticing he wasn't feeling well."

Tim reached out and put a hand on Dick's shoulder, "You're doing fine, you just got to keep this up until Bruce comes back."

"Yeah..." sighed Dick.

Tim smiled, "I'll be in my room if you need me." and walked down the hall. Dick watched his younger sibling make his way to his room, and could not help but notice the Red Robin was walking with a limp.

The night went on without incident. However, Dick could not sleep. His mind kept wondering to Damian and Bruce, and he was just to distracted to fall asleep. Instead, he opened a book, and shoved some headphones into his ears and began reading.

It was about five in the morning, when Tim knocked on the door and let himself in. Wondering what Tim was doing awake at this hour, Dick yanked his headphones off and asked, "Everything okay, Timmy?"

"I can't sleep." Tim admitted and sat down besides Dick. "I walked into the hall and saw that the light was still on in your room so I decided to stop by to see if you were awake."

"Yeah." Dick smiled, and shoved his book under his pillow. "I'm awake, so what did you and Conner end up doing?"

"Um...uh...nothing." a wave of blush exploded on Tim's face, and he began stammering. "He, he um, he called and..."

"The reason why you couldn't sleep was because you were on the phone all night." Dick figured.

"Shut up." Tim reached over and grabbed one of the pillows to smother Dick with, when they were interrupted by a scream.

It was Damian. Dick took a peek at the clock and realized that the fever medication must have worn off. With Tim at his side, the pair rushed off into the hall. Dick threw open the door and dashed into the room while Tim lingered at the doorway.

Damian was sitting up in his bed, his whole body was shaking, he was scared.

Dick rushed over and wrapped his arms around Damian. The child's skin was dangerously warm to the touch. Dick looked over at the doorway and spotted Alfred standing beside Tim.

"Can one of you go get some fever medication?" Dick requested.

"Right away, sir." Alfred was off.

Damian's fever was obviously getting the better of him, as he started sobbing into Dick's shoulder. Tim brought his hand up to his mouth, in disbelief of what he was seeing. At first he had doubted the fact that the baby robin could even get sick, but it was happening right in front of him.

Dick ran his hand down Damian's back, and asked in a quite voice, "What's wrong, baby bird?"

Damian stared up at Dick, with watery eyes and began to admit, "I...I want my father."

"Don't worry, we'll find him." Dick assured, not letting of Damian's tiny body.

"But- but what if you can't?" Damian sobbed. "What if – what..."

Tim took a few steps into the room, but stopped half way. He knew what it was like to lose a father, and seeing Damian like that – even though it was all because he had a fever and was not thinking straight – just seeing it.

As Alfred walked into the room and handed Damian the medication, Tim turned his face away. He was crying, both for his own father and for Bruce.

"You'll feel better soon, baby bird." Dick promised, running his hand over Damian's messy hair. He then looked over at Tim, and noticed he was crying too.

Damian took note of it too, and in a form of imitation he got off his bed. With wobbly legs he made his way to his older brother and wrapped his arms around him. Tim knelt down and wrapped his arms around his baby brother promising him that everything will be okay.

Dick watched and smiled at his two brothers that were hugging for once instead of trying to kill each other. Even if it was just for this one night, even if Damian might not remember everything, and even if they go back to hating each other the next day – all that mattered is that during this one moment they shared a connection.

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**So, I hope ya'll enjoyed reading. :) I'll write a fan fic having to do with what Conner and Tim did, just give me some time.**


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